The present invention concerns a packing item, especially for prebaked and frozen dough items.
Packing items are known in many shapes and for many specific purposes. For use for overbaked and frozen dough items, e.g. pizzas, calzones and pies, intended for cooking in microwave ovens, there are known, for example tray or plate shaped packing items which preferably internally are provided with a special microwave reflecting, metallic coating. These specially coated packing items for use in microwave ovens are named xe2x80x9cmicrowave susceptor articlesxe2x80x9d in the subject field. In order to avoid excessive heating and burning of the dough item there are further known xe2x80x9csafety susceptorsxe2x80x9d where the microwave reflecting coating is not provided with the reflective coating at least in punctiform patterns or in part areas. It that connection it should be mentioned that the reflective coating only has the desired effect if the dough item is in contact with the reflective coating.
Nevertheless, especially in central parts of e.g. pizzas, problems may arise with uneven baking or heating, i.e. that there may occur overheated and burned areas or zones which are wet and unbaked. Therefore, such wet, unbaked zones within the central area or overheated areas at the outer areas (edges) have only been avoided in practice by making relatively small pizzas.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,585,027 discloses a microwave susceptive reheating support with perforations enabling change of size and/or shape of the substrate. For example, a round substrate may be provided with a circular pattern of tear perforations spaced radially inward from an outer circumference of the round substrate enabling to adjust the size of the substrate by removing the outer ring-shaped part of the substrate for use with smaller sized food products. The pattern of tear perforations may include one or more lines of tear perforations that extend across the substrate so that this may be divided into more parts, by way of example, to heat a slice of pizza instead of the entire pizza.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,896,009 discloses a gas permeable microwave reactive package having a flat substrate and a microwave reactive layer affixed over one surface of the substrate having at least one aperture allowing gases and vapors generated from cooking foods such as large pie crusts to traverse the laminate thereby allowing the foods products to remain in close proximity to the heater resulting in improved browning and crisping.
The invention is an improved packing item by which the drawbacks of the prior art are remedied by means of simple provisions.
The packing item according to the invention is provided with a number of ventilation openings. By means of simple provisions there is hereby achieved a new and improved packing item, where the disadvantages with overheated or unbaked zones by corresponding, known packing items are remedied. In that connection it should be mentioned that the outer shape of the packing item according to the invention may be circular, oval, elliptical, quadratic, rectangular, or have another shape, according to wish and need.
Normally, the height of the packing item according to the invention for use for overbaked or frozen dough items like pizzas, calzones and pies is negligible or rather small. But, for example, for use for larger frozen dough items like white bread for baking in the microwave oven, the packing item may have greater height, which is why at least the lower part of the side walls with perforations (ventilation openings) of such a higher packing item may possibly also be designed in this way.
With the purpose of ensuring good access to the ventilation openings at the bottom, the packing item according to the invention may thus be designed so that the bottom surface in punctiform support zones has greater thickness or depth so that the greater part of the bottom of the packing item including the central area may be lifted free of a support surface.
For adjusting in a simple way the effect of the susceptor coating as well as the effect of the ventilation openings and for covering the dough item, it may furthermore be an advantage that the packing item according to the invention is thus designed so that the ventilation openings at the bottom side of the packing item are covered by means of one or more detachable labels which at the side facing upwards toward the underside of the plate or tray are, for example, provided with a susceptor coating, as the primary function of the labels is covering the dough item downward so that the packing item only has to be provided with, for example, a transparent lid as proper sales packing.
Suitably, the packing item according to the invention is further thus designed so that the item along the periphery or the outer edge has an annular, narrow zone with greater thickness or depth, i.e. so that the greater part of the bottom of the packing item including the central area is situated at a slightly higher level than the annular zone, and that said annular, outer zone is provided with radial ventilation grooves.
A packing item according to the invention and designed as a circular tray-shaped packing item for a pizza or similar dough item and being adapted to be divided into a number of packing items by means of radial perforations is in a circular central area provided with downward bent edge parts arranged to constitute xe2x80x9cfeetxe2x80x9d for pointed end parts of the divided packing items.
A packing item according to the invention and designed as a circular packing item for a pizza or a similar dough item, which packing item is made of a packing item which in a plane state has a wavy outer edge, and which in the upward bent state has feet downward along the periphery, has feet formed by wave crests of the outer edge, and has radial ventilation openings formed by vales of the outer edge.
A packing item according to the invention and designed as a circular packing item for a pizza or similar dough item, which packing item is designed with an outer annular support surface, and has a support or bottom surface designed and located so that there is a distance of about 3-20 mm between the support or bottom surface and the support surface which is designed with radial ventilation openings.